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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Bill Cosby - a staunch critic of some rap music - is set to release a Hip-Hop album called State of Emergency, which will be a sanitized, issue-oriented CD. Sources told AllHipHop.com that the actor, comedian and philanthropist will address issues like proper parenting, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, Black-on-Black crime and the dropout rate in America's high schools. Cosby's album will not contain any profane language, nor will it offer any denigrating comments towards women. State of Emergency would be the 35th album for the legendary comedian, actor, who released his first album Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow in 1963.

The sculpture features Oprah — famous for battling her weight — with, as one report describes it, “a full-breasted woman with generous child-bearing hips.”

The image is attached to a block in the shape of a burial chamber, much like an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus.

Why Oprah? Edwards has caused stirs before with his sculptures of celebrities — “The Birth of Sean Preston” (Britney Spears giving birth), “Paris Hilton Autopsy,” “Suri Cruise’s First Poop” — and has said this piece “pays homage to the closest thing America has to a living deity.”

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Let's give Dobbs the benefit of the doubt. How was he supposed to know that Council of Conservative Citizens was a white supremacist organization when he invited one of its members to appear on his show? When he gives verbal support to the Minutemen vigilantes, how is he supposed to know that many of them are shameless racists who threaten and maim illegal immigrants, knowing they can never report it to the cops? Lou Dobbs is not Santa. He can't be everywhere at once, so he can't possibly know what all of his contributors have to say about minorities when they're not on the air. (Source)

Some time last year, I watched a piece on 60 Minutes where they interviewed Lou Dobbs. You know the drill with these interviews --- delving into the subject's life story, having the viewer learn something new about him/her, and lastly humanizing him/her.

Of course the topic of Dobbs being an alleged bigot came up and he, of course, denied it. What also helped debunk (I guess it was supposed to help) that claim was introducing to the world his Mexican-American wife (shown in above pic). I just don't understand people like him and his wife.

Illegal immigration is facilitated by greed. How many people actually consider this? I have yet to hear one of these pundits blaming greedy employers for this problem. I understand that an influx of illegal immigrants can be a strain on the economy but vilifying them serves no purpose because the anger is misdirected.

And also consider the fact that these people are being taken advantage of due to their ignorance and due to the fact that they don't have any legal documentation.

Properly channel your anger. Don't patronize businesses that employ illegal immigrants. Make some real noise about it and contact your local politician. The large numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the border will diminish as soon as people properly channel their anger and start realizing who the real enemy is. It's all supply and demand.

DENVER - Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies but never diverted his campaign, according to The Associated Press and NBC News.The two-time White House candidate notified a close circle of senior advisers that he planned to make the announcement at a 1 p.m. ET event in New Orleans that had been billed as a speech on poverty, according to two of his advisers. The decision came after Edwards lost the four states to hold nominating contests so far to rivals who stole the spotlight from the beginning — Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. The former North Carolina senator will not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination, said one adviser, who spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.

I really liked Edwards the best out of the three. Hopefully Obama will extend a VP offer to him that he won't refuse. That'd be a nice ticket.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Report: These children face life with greater disadvantages.By Tim Evans

About eight in 10 black children in Indiana are born to unwed parents -- a start to life that sets them up for problems during adolescence and beyond, according to an Indiana Black Expo report.

Indiana's black youths fare significantly worse than Hoosier youths in general across 18 indicators of well-being, such as graduation rates and poverty levels, and do worse than black youths in the U.S, according to the report being released Friday.

Tanasha Anders, acting president and chief executive of Indiana Black Expo, said the problem comes down to education -- making sure young people finish school and understand the consequences of having a baby.

"Everything else is a domino effect," she said.

The explosion of births to unwed parents is driving many of the state's social problems, such as increases in poverty and child abuse and the growing cost of public aid, said Bill Stanczykiewicz, president and CEO of the Indiana Youth Institute. He added that the problem is not exclusive to any one race.

Indiana's out-of-wedlock birthrate is at an all-time high, with unwed mothers accounting for nearly 40 percent of all births, he said. Nationally, about 36 percent of all births are to unwed mothers. (Source)

There has to be something that can explain this out of control out-of-wedlock birth rate in the Black community. I know the article said that this problem in Indiana goes beyond race, but high out-of-wedlock births is a problem in our community. Obviously Black women make conservative choices and keep our unborn children, but why not opt for contraceptives? They're out there and they're for FREE at clinics and hospitals.

It still is a problem with the teenagers but now there's a rising young adult population who are becoming single parents. I've noticed that over the years as well, but what ever happened to wanting to make life easier for yourself? Parenting is hard but it's especially hard when it's one person that has to shoulder the load.

I just want to understand why a lot of women are opting to go it alone with parenting. I've heard it all: "Men ain't shit," "Just cuz you married don't mean he'll stick around," "I don't need no man," "Fathers aren't that important," & the other nonsense. There has to be something more. Is there a void? Is this generational (i. e., "My mother and my grandmother didn't need a man to raise their children?")?

I have a friend that always argues with me over my life decisions with regards to parenting. You see, I'm not ready to have children. I'm not married nor am I ready to be married, therefore, I'm not ready to be a mother. It's like she's dying to be a mother and wants to prove to herself and maybe the world that she can do it all. That's her prerogative but I know that I can use all the help I need. A child is a life-long commitment --- not some project for work with a deadline.

This friend of mine thinks that I'm making a big deal out of parenthood and that I think too much. Mind you, she has no children so only God knows where this wisdom comes from. Every parent I know tells me how difficult it is to raise a child. Especially on your own. They also say that I should live my life now while it's still my own. I'll take their sound advice.

When my time comes to be a mother, I want to be able to provide the best that I can for my child. That would include a two-parent household, a college savings, a good neighborhood for them to be raised in, a good school for them to go to, and everything they need. This is something that a lot of single moms don't consider. For the record, I'm not lumping them all together.

I understand that some relationships don't work. The death of your child's father can definitely play a role. Maybe the contraceptive you used failed. If single parenthood is the circumstance that you're dealt due to something completely out of your control, that's one thing. I just don't understand women who irresponsibly prolong or create generational poverty.

Monday, January 28, 2008

This online 'zine is geared towards Black Americans and will touch on topics such as current events, politics, race, and ancestry research. HBO's a founding sponsor. Check it out: http://www.theroot.com/

"African-American men seemed to understand it right away. Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas. And when virtually all the African-American Clinton appointees began, one by one, to disappear, when the President's body, his privacy, his unpoliced sexuality became the focus of the persecution, when he was metaphorically seized and bodysearched, who could gainsay these black men who knew whereof they spoke? The message was clear "No matter how smart you are, how hard you work, how much coin you earn for us, we will put you in your place or put you out of the place you have somehow, albeit with our permission, achieved. You will be fired from your job, sent away in disgrace, and--who knows?--maybe sentenced and jailed to boot. In short, unless you do as we say (i.e., assimilate at once), your expletives belong to us."

Toni Morrison Endorses Obama

From the AP:

Morrison, whose acclaimed novels usually concentrate on the lives of black women, said she has admired Clinton for years because of her knowledge and mastery of politics, but then dismissed that experience in favor of Obama's vision.

"In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates," Morrison wrote. "That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it."Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace — that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom," Morrison wrote.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A President Like My Father

By CAROLINE KENNEDY

Published: January 27, 2008OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible. (Source)

Good job Obama. You've got a lot of decent people behind you. Can't say the same for Billary. Ted Kennedy also endorsing Obama.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Just about everyday there's some news report or poll interested in the voting habits of Black women. The attention we're getting is attributed to our alleged race vs. gender paradox regarding voting as a woman or voting as a Black person. This alleged conflict has been covered in The New York Times and CNN.

I can always appreciate the attention we receive from the media. Too often does the media paint us pathetically as a group. If you don't believe me, NBC Nightly News ran a series a while back that substantiates my claim.

What bothers me about the attention Black women are receiving is that, per usual, the media depicts us as group thinkers. The only difference this time around is that we're not one-dimensional --- we are now Black and woman. We are two separate entities in the same body who are supposedly confused as to whether we should vote for the woman or the Black dude. We couldn't possibly be a complex group who determines the best candidate by his/her credentials, scruples, ideas, and voting record. We are a shallow group with equally shallow choices to make with regards to politics.

I have yet to meet one Black woman that is conflicted on choosing between Obama and Hillary on the grounds that they're sellouts no matter who they choose. Absolute nonsense. I know there are some people out there that want Black women to choose a candidate based on her race or gender but this situation is not as alarming as the media suggests.

Here are my suggestions for the media, HIllary supporters, and Obama supporters:- Black women are adults who can decide what's best for them so stop telling us what to do. We can really do without the guilt trips levelled against us by your self-serving agenda.

- Message to the media: Quit blowing things out of proportion. You can't do your research at one hair salon and conclude that Black women are conflicted off of the strength of a few conflicted women. It just isn't a fair assessment to make and it looks like sloppy journalism. Give us the same respect that you give our racial counterparts. They're never depicted as anything other than diverse so why not afford us the same favor?

- NEWS FLASH: Black women go to work, houses of worship, college, the supermarket, and the mall. We are also members of organizations and can be found on the street heading somewhere. We don't only exchange ideas when we're at Ree Ree's Cut It Up getting our hair did y'know.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Just three Democratic candidates took part in the scorching debate cosponsored by CNN and the Congressional Black Caucus in Myrtle Beach, S.C.: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. It was the next-to-last such encounter scheduled for the Democrats prior to the Feb. 5 "Super Duper Tuesday" showdown when more than 20 states hold nominating contests. South Carolina Democrats go to the polls Saturday.

I Love the '80s!

Clinton attacked Obama for supposedly supporting Republican ideas, which she said included federal deficits and "privatizing" Social Security:

Clinton: [He] has said in the last week that he really liked the ideas of the Republicans over the last 10 to 15 years, and we can give you the exact quote. ... They were ideas like privatizing Social Security, like moving back from a balanced budget and a surplus to deficit and debt.

Obama pushed back, saying he had never endorsed such notions:

Clinton: [You] talked about the Republicans having ideas over the last 10 to 15 years.

Obama: I didn't say they were good ones.

Clinton: Well, you can read the context of it.

Obama: Well, I didn't say they were good ones. ...

Clinton: It certainly came across in the way that it was presented...

We can’t speak to how things "came across" to Clinton, but we’ve listened to the entire interview and to our ears, it’s just flatly false that Obama said he "really liked the ideas of the Republicans." Clinton is referring to what Obama told the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal. A video is available on the Internet.Here’s what Obama actually said in the portion to which Clinton referred:

Obama (Jan. 14, 2008): The Republican approach has played itself out. I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom. Now, you’ve heard it all before. You look at the economic policies when they’re being debated among the presidential candidates, it’s all tax cuts. Well, we know, we’ve done that; we’ve tried it. That’s not really going to solve our energy problems, for example.

There’s a difference between praising someone for having ideas and praising the idea itself. Obama is doing the former – and just as clearly not doing the latter. He says the GOP approach has "played itself out," for example.

It’s also false to imply – as Clinton did – that Obama endorsed Republican proposals to set up private Social Security accounts or that he praised deficit spending. We listened to the entire 49-minute interview, and Obama said no such thing. (Source)

I plan to hit up this site regularly. It beats Googling everything :-)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Found this on NPR:

When "Black" Suggests "Poverty"

Taking a closer look at last night's CNN/CBC Democratic debate, it wasn't the back-and-forth between Clinton and Obama that made a lasting impression on me, it was this Q&A:

CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux asked of Sen. John Edwards:

"I've spoken with a lot of African American voters in South Carolina this week, and a lot of them say that electing a black president, that this would change the way whites see African Americans and the way African Americans see themselves. Do you think that this is a valid consideration for voters in determining who's president?"

Edwards responded and added this:

"Ending poverty is the cause, the single most important cause in my life. ... I think it is a huge moral issue facing the United States of America, and it is an enormous issue facing the African American community. If you're black, you're much more likely to be poor, you're much less likely to have health care coverage. That community is hurt worse by poverty than any community in America. And it's our responsibility, not just for the African American community, but for America, as a nation, to take on this moral challenge, to try as best we can to walk in the shadow of Dr. King and try to make certain that we take this cause on, and I intend to do it."

To which, Sen. Clinton said:

"I think that what we want to do is have a little reality check here, because how is it best to end poverty? We know we've got to maintain programs that are there to help people in need, but look at what's happened over the space of the last seven years. The average African American family has lost $2,600 in income."

And Obama followed:

"As I said, I started my career after college working in low-income neighborhoods, working in public housing projects, talking to children who would tell me that, when I asked them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" They say, "I want to be a doctor," or, "I want to be a lawyer," had the same aspirations as every other child, but they were three, four grade levels behind. And nobody had told them that the likelihood of them accomplishing their goals were each year diminished because we weren't putting the money in to make sure that they could actually achieve it."

Click here to read the full quotes in context, but what I want to pull from here is the jump from a question about the political interests of African Americans ... to addressing the issue of poverty.

While much of what the candidates said is true, it's worth noting that most blacks are middle class. Their answers could have easily had more to do with spurring entrepreneurship and community wealth-building.

It raises the question: what's the best way to address social ills without perpetuating stereotypes and ascribing more problems to black identity?

The writer brings up a good point. I think many Americans feel that Blacks are poor and undereducated and income and education statistics disprove that. My experience and my circle of friends and family don't speak for everyone, but most young Black people that I know are college-educated and in the middle income bracket. This is especially true for the Black women that I know.

The candidates (and people in general) need to be more careful with the assertions that they make of Black people.

BILL HAS A 'DREAM'EX PREZ NODS OFF DURING MLK AWARD PRESENTATIONPost Staff ReportJanuary 21, 2008 -- Bill Clinton showed yesterday why he made it into the book "The Art of Napping."During an appearance at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, the former president was caught nodding off.Clinton was there during a service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., while his wife was nearby at Abyssinian Baptist Church, where she was endorsed by its minister, Rev. Calvin Butts.Clinton has had napping episodes before. Among others, he nodded off at a Mets game and at Ronald Reagan's funeral.When he was president, he told Dan Rather, "If I can take a nap, even 15 or 20 minutes in the middle of the day, it is really invigorating to me. On the days when I'm a little short of sleep, I try to work it out so that I can sneak off and just lie down for 15 minutes, a half an hour, and it really makes all the difference in the world."

Monday, January 21, 2008

I know some of you in the NY metro area have seen these bargain movers ads posted all over the place promising low rates. Some signs say "Moving $17" and some say "Moving $25." But most of them are offering $20 rates just like the ad I provided. I figured that I'd give them a try back in October when I moved from the Bronx to Manhattan. They never showed.

I called them like 3 to 4 days before moving day to set up an appointment. After everything was set up, I still felt like it was too good to be true so I called everyday before moving day to confirm my appointment. Everyday they said "Yes ma'am your appointment still stands." This teaches me to go with my gut next time. My cheap ass kept fighting my instincts, LOL!

Come Saturday morning, they're a no-call, no-show. As you can imagine, I was PISSED. I was scrambling looking through the yellow pages trying to find last-minute movers and luckily I did. I contacted those $20 movers and they said that they didn't have a truck ready and that the price would go up on the move. I reminded them about the ad and they didn't wanna honor their own ad. Plus, I called them several times and they didn't pick up the phone except for once so that they could hang up on me. I left them a nasty message threatening to report them to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). I did try to report them to the BBB but they weren't recognized on their site. This also teaches me to do my homework next time.

Since I couldn't report them, I'll use this blog as a means to forewarn anyone looking for a bargain and/or a last move with that company. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

Oprah fans leave a barrage of negative messages on her official website in response to the talk show host's support of Obama

AMERICA’S favourite television presenter is paying a painful price for her intervention in the US presidential campaign last month. Oprah Winfrey has been dubbed a “traitor” by some of her female fans for supporting Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton.

Winfrey’s website, Oprah.com, has been flooded with a barrage of abuse since the queen of daytime chat shows joined Obama on a tour of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina in mid-December.

Her intervention was widely credited with broadening Obama’s national appeal - especially among women - and with helping him to an upset victory over Clinton in the first vote of the election year in Iowa.

et a backlash by Clinton supporters appears to have prompted a rethink by Winfrey, the African-American media titan who is routinely described as the most influential woman on television.

She did not reappear in the final days before the New Hampshire primary - which Obama lost to Clinton - and has been absent from the most recent campaigning in South Carolina, which votes next weekend.

Obama aides believe that Winfrey will return to the campaign. Her own staff noted last week that in addition to her daily broadcasts on television and satellite radio, she has also been busy negotiating a multi-million-dollar deal with the Discovery cable network to create her own television channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Yet Obama’s rivals suspect that Winfrey has been startled by the virulent reaction to her previous campaign appearance.

It started with a message on her website entitled “Oprah is a traitor” and rapidly expanded to include several discussions that attracted hundreds of comments.

In the original post, a reader called austaz68 said she “cannot believe that women all over this country are not up in arms over Oprah’s backing of Obama. For the first time in history we actually have a shot at putting a woman in the White House and Oprah backs the black MAN. She’s choosing her race over her gender.”

In a subsequent comment, 2nurselady wrote: “I don’t think Oprah is a ‘traitor’, but I do think she may be alienating a lot of her fans.”

Others have accused Winfrey of racism for siding with Obama when such a well qualified woman as Clinton was running.

Winfrey has built her career on empathising with women’s issues and offering a daily diet of redemption and hope. Her show typically focuses on women who have suffered but survived.

So hostile has the response been that some suspect dirty tricks. “All the rude and hateful messages on here can’t be from Oprah fans,” another visitor noted. “Someone’s campaign (wonder who?) is sabotaging the message boards.”

Winfrey received a rapturous reception when she campaigned with Obama last month. Yet several analysts warned that she might adversely affect his chances.

Steve Ross, a history professor at the University of Southern California, said: “The moment a star opens their mouth and endorses one candidate, they alienate half their viewership.”

It was only a matter of time before the forced race vs. gender paradox hit home with Oprah. What took these crazed idiots so long to attack her? I was expecting a "Down With the Oprah" campaign to converge as soon as Oprah announced her support for Obama.

There are things that I want to understand as an American citizen (who has the right to her independent decisions) and as a Black woman who's seldomly seen as both a Black and woman.

Now why doesn't Oprah have the right to lend support to whom she wishes? Why are these women making the argument that Oprah should've chosen gender or race? Is Oprah not Black and a woman? Why should she have to choose between her race and her gender? Why are these women voting with emotions versus logic in the first place? Why are Black women being told what to do as if we can't make any healthy decisions of our own?

If Oprah were supporting Billary versus Obama, then a large number of the Black community would've been up in arms calling her a race traitor. Absolute nonsense. Black women just can't win.

The Black woman has only a single identity & it's both Black and woman. We shouldn't have to choose to satisfy anyone's self-serving agenda.

I know other women of color go through this forced paradox of being of such and such community and being a woman. You're more than welcome to share your thoughts.

She interviewed Mexican journalist Evangelina Hernandez while visiting Denver last week. Hernandez said, "They (illegal aliens) pay rent, buy groceries, buy clothes...What Happens to your country's economy if 20 million people go away?" That's a good question - it deserves an answer. Over 80 percent of Americans demand secured borders and illegal migration stopped. But what would happen if all 20 million or more vacated America? The answers may surprise you!

In California, if 3.5 million illegal aliens moved back to Mexico, it would leave an extra $10.2 billion to spend on overloaded school systems, bankrupt hospitals and overrun prisons. It would leave highways cleaner, safer and less congested. Everyone could understand one another as English became the dominant language again.

In Colorado, 500,000 illegal migrants, plus their 300,000 kids and grand-kids - would move back 'home', mostly to Mexico. That would save Coloradans an estimated $2 billion (other experts say $7 billion) annually in taxes that pay for schooling, medical, social-services and incarceration costs. It means 12,000 gang members would vanish out of Denver alone.

Colorado would save more than $20 million in prison costs, and the terror that those 7,300 alien criminals set upon local citizens. Denver Officer Don Young and hundreds of Colorado victims would not have suffered death, accidents, rapes and other crimes by illegals.

Denver Public Schools would not suffer a 67 percent drop-out/flunk-out rate because of thousands of illegal alien students speaking 41 different languages. At least 200,000 vehicles would vanish from our gridlocked cities in Colorado.

Denver's four percent unemployment rate would vanish as our working poor would gain jobs at a living wage.

In Florida, 1.5 million illegals would return the Sunshine State back to America, the rule of law, and English.

In Chicago, Illinois, 2.1 million illegals would free up hospitals, schools, prisons and highways for a safer, cleaner and more crime-free experience.

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home' --

If 20 million illegal aliens returned 'home', the U.S. Economy would return to the rule of law. Employers would hire legal American citizens at a living wage. Everyone would pay their fair share of taxes because they wouldn't be working off the books. That would result in an additional $401 Billion in IRS income taxes collected annually, and an equal amount for local, state and city coffers.

No more push '1' for Spanish or '2' for English. No more confusion in American schools that now must contend with over 100 languages that degrade the educational system for American kids. Our overcrowded schools would lose more than two million illegal alien kids at a cost of billions in ESL and free breakfasts and lunches.

We would lose 500,000 illegal criminal alien inmates at a cost of more than $1.6 billion annually. That includes 15,000 MS-13 gang members who distribute $130 billion in drugs annually would vacate our country.

In cities like L.A., 20,000 members of the '18th Street Gang' would vanish from our nation. No more Mexican forgery gangs for ID theft from Americans! No more foreign rapists and child molesters!

Losing more than 20 million people would clear up our crowded highways and gridlock. Cleaner air and less drinking and driving American deaths by illegal aliens!

America's economy is drained. Taxpayers are harmed. Employers get rich. Over $80 billion annually wouldn't return to the aliens' home countries by cash transfers. Illegal migrants earned half that money untaxed, which further drains America's economy - which currently suffers an $8.7 trillion debt.

At least 400,000 anchor babies would not be born in our country, costing us $109 billion per year per cycle. At least 86 hospitals in California, Georgia and Florida would still be operating instead of being bankrupt out of existence because illegals pay nothing via the EMTOLA Act.

Americans wouldn't suffer thousands of TB and hepatitis cases rampant in our country-brought in by illegals unscreened at our borders.

Our cities would see 20 million less people driving, polluting and grid locking our cities. It would also put the 'progressives' on the horns of a dilemma; illegal aliens and their families cause 11 percent of our greenhouse gases.

Over one million of Mexico's poorest citizens now live inside and along our border from Brownsville, Texas to San Diego, California in what the New York Times called, "colonias" or new neighborhoods Trouble is, those living areas resemble Bombay and Calcutta where grinding poverty, filth, diseases, drugs, crimes, no sanitation and worse. They live without sewage, clean water, streets, electricity, roads or any kind of sanitation. The New York Times reported them to be America's new "Third World" inside our own country. Within 20 years, at their current growth rate, they expect20 million residents of those colonias. (I've seen them personally in Texas and Arizona; it's sickening beyond anything you can imagine.) By enforcing our laws, we could repatriate them back to Mexico.

We should invite 20 million aliens to go home, fix their own countries and/or make a better life in Mexico. We already invite a million people into our country legally more than all other countries combined annually. We cannot and must not allow anarchy at our borders, more anarchy within our borders and growing lawlessness at every level in our nation. It's time to stand up for our country, our culture, our civilization and our way of life.

Interesting Statistics. Here are 14 reasons illegal aliens should vacate America, and I hope they are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them:

11. During the year 2005, there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our southern border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from terrorist countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroine, and marijuana crossed into the U.S. from the southern border. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

If this doesn't bother you, then just delete the message. Otherwise, forward this to everyone you know!

If these things are really happening in parts of the country, then much can't be disputed. What I don't like is the overall xenophobic tone of this e-chain letter. It seems to suggest that these problems (shitty schools, overcrowded prisons, third-world sections of the US, bankrupted hospitals, gang violence, etc.) didn't exist before the massive influx of illegal immigrants of that they're the primary culprit for these problems.

And how realistic is it to deport millions of people? This email doesn't really express any resentment towards American greed. American greed has a lot to do with the exploitation of these illegal workers being in great demand and the problems listed in the email.

Many illegal immigrants are doing jobs that Americans don't wanna do. Just consider who are the the bus boys/girls, maintenance workers, dish washers at restaurants. Consider the personnel stocking aisles and replenishing the produce area at farmer's markets. Consider those who work in landscaping. Consider those who wash your car. Consider those day laborers at Home Depot that you wanna use for moving when you don't wanna hire licensed, costlier moving companies. They're all ridiculously underpaid & off the books.

American employers don't care about American people. The cost effectiveness of illegal immigration and outsourcing simply won't allow them to care.

Now what especially bothered me about this email is that my friend, who's Black, forwarded this to me. I've always felt that far too many minorities have this desire to otherize (i.e., ostracize make someone the "other" group) the unpopular group of the moment to offset their insecurities with feeling like or being treated as a second class American. That's really disappointing to me.

Update 2/20/08

I'd like to correct myself for stating that Americans don't want the jobs that many illegal immigrants are given. There are plenty of underskilled Americans who will take anything to make ends meet but they're being bypassed due to the popularity of migrant labor. Many Americans do want these jobs, but there are many Americans that refuse to be taken advantage of. That is what I should've stated.